Those of us descended from the Emerald Isle never had much reason to take pride in the land of our ancestry – until about two decades ago when it snapped awake, restructured its economy (largely government out, private sector in) and transformed itself from one of the poorest to one of the wealthiest nations in Europe.
Today, Ireland was the center of attention in Europe – as it was the only nation whose people were able to vote on the Lisbon Treaty – a rehash of the radical European Constitution that French and Dutch voters thought that had killed, burned, and disintegrated a few years back.
This time, however, the Eurocrats managed to ensure no one would allow the people to have their say – except Ireland.
Yesterday was the referendum; today the vote was revealed – the Constitution-treaty was once again sent back to the scrap heap.
Over here, the notion of transnational bodies eroding sovereignty, accountability, and democracy is considered a bit overwrought (except in Virginia, what with HB3202 and all), but it is a nightmarish reality in Europe (a.k.a. the Brusselian Empire, a.k.a. Endom). The European establishments – as desperate to avoid accountability as Bill Howell and Tim Kaine – were all four-square behind the treaty (except for the new Czech government and the British Conservative opposition).
However, the Irish people saw through it all, and not only did they put the brakes on this nonsense in Europe, but they also gave the few North Americans willing to speak up for it (say, Jim Hoagland) serious pause.
So, for those who love democracy – or, if you prefer (and no shame if you do) a republican from of government – today is a great day, thanks to Ireland.
UPDATE: All the returns are in, and it’s a shocker. Turnout was 53% (Irish Times) – above all expectations. It was also well above the supposed tipping point where the Yes side was sure to win. More people voted against the constitution-treaty today that voted for the Prime Minister’s Party (Fianna Fail) last year (Wiki).
FURHTER UPDATE: It appears that before the results were known, a leading Irish betting firm (Paddie Power) was so sure the Yes side had won (perhaps they had a heads-up on the turnout) that they started cashing the Yes tickets early (Gideon Rachman – Financial Times, UK). Man, that must hurt.
June 13, 2008 at 3:08 pm |
[...] “Truly, today, we are all Irish” Who said that you ask? Why, it’s Daniel Hannan, an Member of the European Parliament and a prominent “Euroskeptic” (opponent of the European superstate rejected by Ireland’s voters). [...]
September 4, 2008 at 8:55 am |
Hi, I am afraid your analysis on why the irish rejected the treaty is wrong. I’m sure that some irish people who voted NO -including myself – did so because of the lisbon treaty in itself. But the majority of people who voted NO did so as a means to punish the government over some domestic matter. When it comes to voting in Ireland people are very tribal and will tend to vote for the party that generations of the family have voted for. They see this as a safe bet but they are playing with fire.
January 26, 2009 at 2:32 am |
God Bless the Irish!